This book shares with its readers the thoughts and events in the life of the main character day by day. For example, on July 18 an old minister comes to their house and the character is sure that he will never come back again. He is going back to the unitarial church with Keene and Cele who are going to sing there in the new quire. The main character has a meeting in the afternoon in Sunday school for which he does not care much as, in his opinion, they don't learn much there. This day he also meet Ed Tole and goes horseback riding with him. He has a little red pony which Ed rides without a sadle. When the main character tries to do it, he feels like being split into two parts. His horse Nellie can trot faster than Ed's but Ed's runs faster. On July 19 he meets her uncle Robert who is in fact not his uncle but his father's. He is his grandfather's brother who is already dead. When talking, uncle Robert says that hopefully the main character will make a better man that his father. It strikes him somehow as his father also used to reproach him for mispoliteness and imbehavior. The character believes that his father is 5 times as good as uncle Robert. His mother has heard that some people do like uncle Robert and say that he is best but the main character does not belong to this kind. His father laughs at uncle Robert's words and says that he should not blame Robert for anything...